The Stoughton teachers union has agreed to drop a class action lawsuit against the school committee, which voted to ratify the new teachers contract that includes step increases and other benefits.

Four committee members approved the contract, which passed, 4-2, to end the deadlock from a previous vote in May. One committee member and Town Manager Michael Hartman, exercising his legal authority to participate in the vote, voted against the proposal.

The vote was cast in an executive session at Hartman's request, said school committee Chairman Erdem Ural, who said he would have preferred the vote had been made during the public session of the special meeting on June 26.

School committee member Carol Brown, who initially voted against the contract, joined Ural and fellow committee members Joaquin Soares and Katy Pina-Enokian to ratify the same contract that had been deadlocked at 3-3 on May 27.

Brown could not be reached for comment.

Ural said the tie vote precipitated a re-vote in the hope of ending the gridlock.

School committee member Joyce Husseini and Hartman voted against accepting the contract.

The town manager declined to comment on the vote until after the minutes of the closed session are made public.

Andrea Pires, outgoing president of the Stoughton Teachers Association, praised the vote as a "reasonable" settlement.

"Stoughton teachers have always wanted to settle a reasonable contract and focus exclusively on our students," Pires said. "Throughout the 15-month protracted contract negotiations, we always put our students first." As part of the deal, the STA agreed to withdraw the pending $1.5 million lawsuit that was filed in Brockton Superior Court that accused the town and school committee of unlawful withholding of step pay increases, as determined by a state labor relations hearing officer.

"From the beginning, we have said that we would not proceed with the lawsuit and would forego more than $1 million in penalties and fines against the town if we could come to terms on a fair contract," said John Gunning, incoming STA president and an O'Donnell Middle School teacher.

Gunning said the vote on May 27 to reject the tentative agreement with the new school committee team "caused the lawsuit to be filed, but we will honor our initial offer and withdraw the pending lawsuit."

The contract was negotiated with the assistance of a private mediator.

The last contract that expired in 2013 gave the teachers a 3.7 percent increase. The new contract provides a retroactive 1 percent increase in year one plus $625 per teacher at the top steps ($80,000), the same in years two and three, and a 2 percent increase plus $625 in step pay in fiscal 2017, Ural said. He said the first year has been paid out of the fiscal 2014 budget that ran out June 30.

In addition, the STA agreed to waive $70,000 in state mandated penalties for nonpayment of steps, and dropped the class action suit and the potential $1.5 million legal liability to the town, Ural said.

Page 2 of 2 - The contract agrees to an eight period day at the high school and an additional 20 minutes per day in class time. Both sides believed this will make it easier in terms of scheduling for both students and staff, Ural said.

Ural said he is happy the 15-month "ordeal" is finally over.

"This contract is a great deal for Stoughton. I am looking forward to a productive relationship between the school committee and its employees," Ural said.

Soares, a member of the school committee negotiation team, said he was pleased with the outcome and wished to thank the teachers for being "very level headed and very professional during the 15 months of negotiations."

"I know the teachers love their students and their jobs and would never compromise the children no matter what the reason. It is now time to make Stoughton schools better than they ever were," Soares said.

Stoughton High School teacher and negotiation team chairwoman Melanie Ingrao said the terms of the contract are "in line or are less than the last three settlements negotiated with former school committee teams dating back to 2004. We're pleased to move forward and return in September with the negotiations resolved."

Ural said the main reason for the majority vote that broke the tie was the STA's promise to pull the lawsuit.